Short | Aloft

A young man takes to the skies to experience his first parachute jump… and winds up a castaway on an impossibly solid cloud, a Prospero’s island of roiling vapor that seems animated by a mind of its own

The story starts as follows:He hated it in the back of the little plane, squished in with the others. He hated the reek of gasoline and moldy canvas and his own rancid farts, and by the time they reached six thousand feet, Aubrey Griffin decided he couldn’t go.
“I’m so sorry to do this, man -” Audrey began, calling over his shoulder to the guy he thought of as Axe.
His jumpmaster’s name had flown out of his head as soon as the dude introduced himself. By then Aubrey was having trouble hanging on to even the most basic information.